The Biden administration could attempt to follow through on its threat to force ByteDance to sell TikTok to another firm
of the hugely popular short-video app to America’s national security. It was a rare display of political unity by the committee’s members, the result of new bipartisan hawkishness towards China. TikTok, though based in Singapore and Los Angeles, is owned by ByteDance, a Chinese company with headquarters in Beijing.
But national-security concerns dominated. Mr Chew’s goal in appearing on Capitol Hill was to convince the committee, the American government and, since the hearing was live-streamed, the American public that TikTok is eager to respond to these concerns. The company’s answer to American fears of Chinese meddling is Project Texas, a plan years in the making that aims to wall off American data from TikTok’s parent company in China.
If Project Texas does not go far enough, America has two options. . China’s government is opposed to this. Hours before Mr Chew’s grilling in Washington, the country’s commerce ministry said that TikTok’s forced sale would require China’s approval, because it would involve the export of precious technology. That approval would almost certainly not be forthcoming. There may also be legal hurdles in America.
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